Multilateralism / Comment
The United Nations Humanitarian response system and the "In Larger Freedom" Report
15/04/2005 By Helena Torroja Mateu
The recent Report by the Secretary-General (SG) called "In Larger Freedom: Towards Security, Development and Human Rights for All", published on March 21, 2005, has not forgotten to refer to what it literally calls the United Nations "humanitarian response system" for any type of catastrophe.
It is analysed in Section V, "Strengthening the United Nations", specifically in the paragraph devoted to "System Coherence". This inclusion is plausible, especially if taking into account that it was hardly mentioned in the previous Report by the High Level Panel (HLP), taken into consideration by the SG to prepare the Report.
Reference is brief (paragraphs 202-211), but sufficiently concise to report the problems that the Secretariat considers to be the most essential in this sphere.
The perspective from which it is approached is mainly institutional/operating. Its global reading allows discovering, between the lines, that the functional sphere in which these UN protection and humanitarian aid services are considered to be included is the Freedom to lead a decent life.
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Keywords
Humanitarian action Multilateralism UNBio author: Helena Torroja Mateu
B.A. in Law by the Universidad de Barcelona (1992). PhD in Law by the Universidad de Barcelona (2001). Diploma in International Humanitarian Law from the International Red Cross Committee (1995). Certificate from the Centre for Advanced Studies and Research of the Hague Academy of International Law (2002). Member of the Board of Directors of the Institut de Drets Humans de Catalunya since 1994; Member of the Board of the Federació catalana d'ONG pels drets humans, representing the l'Institut de Drets Humans de Catalunya (2002-2003); Stagiaire at the UN Human Rights Centre in Geneva (1994); International Observer of the OSCE during the elections of 14 September 1996 in Bosnia-Herzegovina; Member of the delegation of the Federation of Associations for the Promotion and Defence of Human Rights before the UN Human Rights Committee (1997, 2002).
